a journal of discovery, conviction, and walking with the poor and orphaned of Rwanda

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Behind the Veil of Ignorance (... a good place to reflect)

Whether you are a red Republican or a blue
Democrat;

a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,
agnostic, or atheist;

living off entitlements or pulling in $1,000,000+;

straight or gay;

parent of a 6 year-old who attended Sandy Hook;

or a grandfather whose greatest delight is to take his
granddaughter deer and pheasant hunting;… this blog's for you. It offers no good answers, but
it suggests where good answers might be found.

Have you ever considered the burden
upon a judge to make truly just, objective decisions, irrespective of personal interests and feelings
(positive or negative) for the litigants and their respective attorneys?

Or, much closer to each of us, the
responsibility we bear as participants in the body politic (e.g., as voters) to
fairly discuss and decide what is our most rational and sound way forward,…
just and fair, even though an alternative option may be in one’s most immediate
personal interests (e.g., granting or eliminating an “entitlement” or a tax
increase or a tax cut)?

In a sense, as participants in the
body politic we are continually coming together to discuss the terms of the
optimal social contract and we decide many societal questions concerning:

-the vesting of power and
privileges;

-the proper exercise of power (and
appropriate limits);

-the distribution of limited
resources;

-the boundaries between personal
freedoms and prohibited behaviors;

-the level of care for the
disabled and disadvantaged;

and the list goes on and on.

We participate and decide such
matters in various ways, many unrecognized. But how SHOULD we participate? By
what approach and with what perspective?

John Rawls (1921 - 2002) urged that we
participate in such inescapable discussions and decisions behind a presumed
“veil of ignorance,”… as if we do not know the circumstances into which we (or
our children) are born. Let us have the discussion and each take our respective
stand as to what is most sound and just,… and only afterwards “turn the cards
up” and “pull back the veil of ignorance,” and discover our lot in life,…
whether we are female or male, brilliant or dull, black or white, handsome or
homely, strong or frail, gay or straight, born into wealth or desperate
poverty….

With the veil pulled back, we will
discover that some of us are born in the Hamptons and named “Edmund” with a
high Roman numeral behind something like Rockefeller or Kennedy or Gates or
Walton. Some of us are born “Tyrone,” HIV positive, in “the projects” to a
single mother, and no Roman numeral nor even a last name. Some of us are born
“Hamid” in the Sudan, and some “Lightfoot” on a Federal Reservation in North
Dakota. Some of us are born with the genetic makeup of “Michael” … Jordan,
Phelps or Tyson; others are born with severe spina bifida or with the genetic
makeup that will announce M.S. or terminal cancer at age 40. But this is the
thing: We do not know who we are, or who our children are, until we first take
a stand as to what is fair, what is right, and the kind of world in which we
really want to live.

When I discover that I am born to
an HIV positive street beggar in Burkina Faso who will not live to my 5th
birthday, I shall be glad and affirmed to have “voted” with charity and
compassion on issues of global health and poverty alleviation (while I was
still behind the veil of ignorance). That seems obvious.

But is it not just as obvious that
I should be equally satisfied to have “voted” for a compassionate, charitable,
and tolerant society when I discover that I have been born “Prince Charles,
Heir to the Throne”? Or a N.Y. banker earning $1+ million per year? Or a well
funded Islamic, Christian, or Hindu fundamentalist? Is it not that commitment
to community, charity, compassion, and tolerance that we desire to distinguish us from the beasts?

The “veil of ignorance” does not
tell us what to think, but it points out a very good place to do our thinking.
If we go to this higher ground, surely many of our positions will be better
reasoned and better decided. And let us be appropriately concerned about those who are incapable
of even the effort, who think this is a trick and that sound, objective
reasoning cannot be trusted,... those who may fear that community, compassion and
tolerance are dangerous traps.

Followers

Link to Bridge2Rwanda

Not About Me

I am reluctant to do the Bio thing. Nothing "about me" should be the focus here, except as this open journal may resonate with (or provoke) your own thoughts. But I offer this much: After 30 years as an attorney, I am now a typical Halftimer who is determined to move beyond success to significance. Inspired and convicted by three sons (Tommy, Nathan & Wesley) who live passionate and adventurous lives, I am now privileged to participate in the exciting social changes and development occurring in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa, hoping to empower the desperately poor. But I must be very clear on this: I am just your average coward. Suffering and sacrifice are very foreign concepts to me. However, I now believe that life comfortably ensconced in a safe cocoon misses out on too much of what might be learned, experienced, and shared with others in the Majority World, many of whom are crying out in desperate need, and some of whom beam with smiles and contentment such as I have seldom seen. I want to know them and their lives.